The poster for writer-director-producer-editor Philippe McKie’s dance drama, ‘Dreams on Fire.’

A dancer’s quest to be discovered for her talent has ultimately released a vibrant side of Japanese culture to the world that’s never before been showcased in cinema. Celebrated Japanese dance icon, Bambi Naka’s protagonist of Yume is struggling against the harsh realities of what it takes to achieve success as a dancer in the new drama, ‘Dreams on Fire.’ The movie, which marks the performer’s first lead acting role in a feature film, is a love letter to Tokyo’s dynamic-and equally challenging-urban dance and underground scene and the artists that occupy it

‘Dreams on Fire’ marks the feature film writing, directorial, editing and producing debuts of filmmaker Philippe McKie. The new drama is having its North American Premiere tonight at 9pm ET at the Fantasia International Film Festival, and will also play on Tuesday morning at 9am ET, after all of the helmer’s previous shorts all played at the festival. The movie’s screenings at fantasia comes after it was an Official Selection at this year’s Glasgow Film Festival.

For over a decade, McKie, who’s a native of Fantasia‘s host city, Montreal, has been living in Japan, where he’s worked as a DJ and filmmaker. His first feature explores the underground dance scene of Toyko with dazzling authenticity and sincere story-telling.

‘Dreams on Fire’ follows dancer Yume (Naka) as she sets out to achieve her dream of breaking into the dance world in Japan. She leaves her small town, against her parents’ wishes, to move to Tokyo and make her mark in her discipline. She navigates between street dance competitions, hip-hop classes, life in her tiny flat and the many encounters with colorful characters. All alone in the big city, she also has to take a job as a hostess to help her survive. Far from her initial ambitions, this job may help her to assert herself and gain self-confidence, unless it leads her into a toxic spiral instead.

With an intimate knowledge of emerging creatives in Tokyo, the drama brings viewers into a world never explored in cinema, as it’s the first feature to shoot at legendary S&M bar Black Rose, and the first to show a Japanese voguing event in a narrative movie. Additional dancers and globally recognized choreographers that made their on-screen debuts in ‘Dreams on Fire’ include Yumeri Chikada, Kazane, Genta Yamaguchi, MIWA, AVECOO, Maiko Masai and Suzuyaka.

McKie generously took the time recently to talk about writing, directing, editing and producing ‘Dreams on Fire’ during an exclusive Zoom interview. Among other things, the filmmaker discussed that he had Naka in mind to play Yume while he was developing the script, and knew that she was the right choice to play the protagonist when he saw her hard work while they were filming. He also shared his appreciation that the drama was chosen to have its North American premiere at Fantasia, as it’s a festival he has admired since he was young.

The conversation began with McKie discussing what inspired him to make his feature film writing debut on ‘Dreams On Fire,’ and what was the process like of penning the story. “There were a few things that came together. On one hand, ‘Dreams On Fire’ to me is about the hustle of having, and working towards, a dream. that’s almost autobiographical of what I was going through in my journey in Japan as a filmmaker,” he revealed. “So with my first feature, I was like, I want to create a story that’s very true to my own experience.

“On the other hand, I always thought that the scariest thing to shoot ever would be a dance film,” the scribe admitted with a laugh. “I have a huge love and appreciation for dance. I used to dance a lot back when I was in Montreal, especially breakdancing and tango. I always thought the sheer potential of dance on screen is so huge because it’s so intimidating.

“So bringing that together and creating a story about the hustle of a dancer following her dream would be the scariest thing that I could possibly do. So that’s what I had to do,” McKie noted.

Besides writing the script, McKie also embraced making his feature film directorial debut on the movie. So he then delved into how penning the screenplay influenced his helming style, and how he approached his overall directorial duties on the set.

“I had done a number of short films before embarking on ‘Dreams on Fire.’ With every short film I made, I was learning about what worked best for me, and how I liked approaching filmmaking,” the filmmaker noted. “Starting out in film school, and then leading up to where I am now, has been a 12-year journey. During that time, there are a lot of things that I’ve decided I didn’t want to do that other people did.

“I’ve also had the chance to meet people. In Tokyo, I’ve been able to meet other people whose work I respect and think are very talented,” McKie continued. “By the time I got to making ‘Dreams on Fire,’ I was able to select a few people I really like who I wanted to work with.

“Making ‘Dreams on Fire’ is many times bigger than making a short. But making this feature was an extension of those experiences, and I really enjoyed making it,” the helmer added.

McKie then delved into what the process was like of casting the roles of the dancers in
Dreams on Fire.’ “The cast of ‘Dreams on Fire’ is funky,” he admitted with a laugh. “What I knew for certain was that for the roles of the dancers, I wanted to cast the very best dancers. So I dived into Japan’s dance community for a few years, and I’ve been able to becomes close with dancers who have been able to really show me their world.

“So for many dancers in the film, it was as simple as finding the absolute best, who are also the leaders in their fields. Since ‘Dreams On Fire’ is the first-ever Japanese urban dance film, a lot of (the dancers) were excited. They never thought they’d get the chance to be in a film,” the filmmaker divulged. “So everyone who joined the film did so for the purest reasons; they wanted to create something awesome and show their talent.

“There were also other roles in the film that are non-dance roles, and for those, I wanted the best actors I could find. I was very blessed to be able to work with legendary Japanese actors, including Akaji Maro, who played the grandfather, and Masahiro Takashima, who played the boss in the Hostess Club,” McKie gushed about the supporting cast.

The director added with a laugh, “These are two actors who have been making incredible films since before I was born. I wrote the script with them in mind, and was able to approach them and have them join,” he further divulged. “So ‘Dreams on Fire’ is my dream rooster, in terms of casting. I was able to get so many people that I admire” join the cast.”

Once the actors were cast, McKie cherished having the opportunity to work with them to build their characters’ arcs. “Honestly, every actor was incredible to work with; there was never any drama with anyone on the set. Everyone went in with this pure, positive energy, and I did my best to have this positive energy on the set to make everyone happy and want to do their best,” he revealed.

“Bambi blew my mind. I’ve been a fan of hers for many years, and she’s extremely famous as a dancer in Japan. But this is her first time playing the lead in a film. So going into the production, it was a bit of a gamble of whether she’d be able to act at the level she needed to in order to play the lead of the film,” the filmmaker pointed out. “But as soon as we started shooting, everyone on the set was like, ‘Wow, she’s crushing it.

“But Bambi has this epic talent. Ever since she was a child, she loved to be on stage and perform, and she was good at it. She also has a lot of experience; she’s toured the world with Madonna, and has been on stage in front of so many people, which is the scariest thing you can imagine,” McKie gushed about the performer.

“But she has also worked so hard. I remember watching her one day on set, when one of the other actors couldn’t remember one of their lines. So she pulled out her script and said, ‘This is your line.’ Her script had hundreds of Post-its and notes, and it looked like she had read it thousands of times,” the helmer recalled with enthusiasm.

“I had to hold back from crying on set because I thought, wow, that’s beautiful,” McKie added. “So she definitely worked hard, and I’m extremely proud of her performance, and being able to create a film that was her leading debut.”

Once Naka and her fellow dancers signed on to star in the drama, the filmmaker embraced the experience of being able to work with them to create the choreography for their characters’ routines. “All of these dancers are top-tier dancers and choreographers. So I knew there was no way I would go in and make choreography for them,” he admitted with a laugh.

“So with all of these dancers, including Bambi, I would tell them what the piece of music would be, specifically what part of the music they would dance to, and what the scene was. So all of the dancers would go into the scene knowing exactly what they were going to dance to and what the vibe was going to be, so that they could get to it while shooting,” McKie divulged.

“With Bambi, since we see her from the beginning to the end of the film, it was very important that we had a curve of growth for her as a dancer and person. So we made sure to discuss what her style would be at the start, and then how it would evolve throughout the film,” the director shared. “Not only did she embrace the idea, but she also went above and beyond with what she was able to create.”

McKie then delved into how, in addition to scribing and helming ‘Dreams on Fire,’ he also served as one of the producers, and how he balanced his producing and directorial duties on the set. “Some of the other crew were like, ‘There aren’t any other producers in Japan running the show?’ I was there and had one of my key assistants with me on set, and I was wearing many hats,” he divulged with a laugh.

“On the one hand, it was a lot of work and very intense. But I had also done it enough times to feel comfortable on the feature. I had produced all of my shorts, and I have also worked as a fixer in Japan for big production companies around the world,” the filmmaker shared.

“They would always come at the last minute, about three or four days before shooting, and say, ‘We need you to find this place and person.’ That experience sharpened me to be able to production manage things at a fast pace,” McKie continued.

“A lot of the locations in this film are places that I knew personally and love. There were also quite a few relationships that were brought into the film, as well,” the producer added.

Once the filming was completed on the movie, McKie went on to edit the feature. He described what the process of putting the final version of ‘Dreams On Fire’ together was like.

“I’ve edited all of my projects, so I was like, ‘I want to edit this, in a way that no one else can.’ When I write a film, I can often already see the edits in it,” the filmmaker shared.

“In the future, I’m definitely open to growing my team and collaborating with more people. But this time, I knew that I had to be the editor, and it was a very intense process,” McKie admitted.

“I just locked myself in my room from the time I woke up, and worked on my computer. I blacked out the windows, so that I was in a permanent night, and I would just edit, edit, edit. There were many days that I would speak to another human being,” the editor admitted with a laugh. “I just worked on creating the movie.

“I think the final version of the film is definitely the director’s cut. Some people might think, ‘This is two hours? I can’t handle it!’ But I think some other viewers appreciate that it’s that length,” McKie added with a laugh. “I was also thinking as I was cutting it that this was meant to have a theatrical release in Japan.”

Further speaking of the release model, the helmer noted that he appreciates that ‘Dreams On Fire’ is having its North American Premiere at Fantasia this week. “I’m still wrapping my head around it. The film has actually had its theatrical release in Japan, where it played in seven cities. But I wasn’t able to be there for that because of the pandemic.

“So (tonight’s) screening at Fantasia is the first time I’ll be able to see my film with a live audience. I’m happy that it’s playing at Fantasia because always say that this festival made me,” McKie revealed. “I’ve been going there since I was a kid, and it’s the festival that made me discover Japanese, and overall Asian, cinema.

“When I was in film school and wanting to become a director, I went to Fantasia amongst all of these cinefiles, and I thought, wouldn’t it be crazy if one day my film was playing at this festival? And here we are,” the filmmaker concluded.

Summary
Photo ofPhilippe McKie
Name
Philippe McKie
Website
Job Title
Writer-director-editor-producer of the dance drama, 'Dreams on Fire'

By Karen Benardello

As a graduate of LIU Post with a B.F.A in Journalism, Print and Electronic, Karen Benardello serves as ShockYa's Senior Movies & Television Editor. Her duties include interviewing filmmakers and musicians, and scribing movie, television and music reviews and news articles. As a New York City-area based journalist, she's a member of the guilds, New York Film Critics Online and the Women Film Critics Circle.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *